Mário Coluna

Mário Coluna

Coluna in 1969
Personal information
Full name	Mário Esteves Coluna
Date of birth	(1935-08-06)6 August 1935
Place of birth	Inhaca, Mozambique
Date of death	25 February 2014(2014-02-25) (aged 78)
Place of death	Maputo, Mozambique
Height	1.72 m (5 ft 7 1⁄2 in)
Playing position	Midfielder
Youth career
	Albasini
	Ferroviário
1951–1954	Desportivo Lourenço Marques
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1954–1970	Benfica	364	(89)
1970–1971	Lyon	19	(2)
1971–1972	Estrela Portalegre
Total		383	(91)
National team
1955–1968	Portugal	57	(8)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.

Mário Esteves Coluna (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈmaɾiu kuˈlunɐ]; 6 August 1935 – 25 February 2014) was a Portuguese footballer who played mainly as a central midfielder.

He spent most of his career with Benfica, appearing in 525 official games and scoring 127 goals during 16 professional seasons. Dubbed Monstro Sagrado (Sacred Monster), he won 19 major titles with his main club, including ten national leagues and two European Cups.

Coluna represented Portugal at the 1966 World Cup, and earned a total of 57 caps. He was considered one of the best midfielders of his generation, also being viewed as one of the most talented Portuguese players of all time.

Born in Inhaca, Portuguese Mozambique, to a Portuguese father and a Mozambican mother, Coluna was spotted by S.L. Benfica while playing for Desportivo de Lourenço Marques, where he excelled at basketball and track and field. Signed by the Lisbon club in 1954, he started playing as an inside forward, scoring a career-best 14 goals in 26 games in his first season in Portugal and winning the first of his national championships; subsequently, he was successfully reconverted as a central or attacking midfielder by manager Otto Glória, where he put to good use his stamina and strength, adding to this an accurate and powerful long-distance shot and technical skills.

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